Dropping-board cleaner.



J. A. OONBOIE.

DROPPING BOARD CLEANER,

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 25 1913.

1,102,005. Patented June 30,1914.

WITNESSES:

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COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITE STATES PATEN QFIG.

JOSEPH A. CONBOIE, OF PITTSBUEG, CALIFORNIA.

DROPPING-BOARD CLEANER.

To (ZZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Josnrrr A. Concern, a citizen of the United States,residing at Pittsburg, in the county of Contra Costa and State ofCalifornia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Dropping- BoardCleaners, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to poultry apparatus and particularly to a devicefor cleaning the dropping board of poultry houses.

An object of the present invention is to provide a mechanism whereby thedropping boards beneath roosts in chicken houses may be rapidly, readilyand thoroughly cleaned of accretions, thus eliminating hand scraping andloss of time.

The invention consists of a scraping and gathering tray with means foroperating the same along the dropping board.

It also comprises details of construction which will be more fullyexplained by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1is a plan view of the device showing a portion of a dropping board. Fig.2 is an edge view of same partly in section.

A portion of a poultry house is shown in plan at 2, along the wall ofwhich extends a horizontal dropping board 3. Above the dropping board 3are arranged roosts l.

Good practice requires that the dropping board be cleaned every morningand this is usually done by hand tools, requires considerable time andis annoying to laying fowls in the nests.

My invention resides in providing an apparatus consisting of one or morescoops, trays or shallow pans 5, with the front wall removed and turnedslightly beneath the front edge, as 6, to form a shoe which willautomatically rise over the shoulders at the edges of the flooring ordropping board structure. The trays 5 are hingedly connected at 7 to atraveler or carriage with a beam 8, at the ends of which are trucks withrunning wheels 9 and side-thrust wheels 10 running in guides or tracks11 arranged along the sides of the dropping board.

To the carriage beam is connected a cable or haul rope 12, a stretch ofwhich extends forwardly to a drum or pulley 13 mounted adjacent to awindow or aperture 14 at one end of the shed 2 and through which thetrays will project and tip when advanced by the carriage hauled by thecable during Specification of Letters Patent. Pafbgnfigd June 3Q, jjgjlApplication filed March 25, 1913.

Serial No. 756,666.

the winding of the drum by its crank 15 or other means. The cable isreturned from the drum over suitable guide pulleys 1'6 and connected tothe carriage so that the carriage can be hauled rearward by reversingthe operation of the drum. The carriage beam 8 has attached to itsuitable springs 17 which reach forwardly and bear down upon the trays 5for the purpose of causing a scraping action at their front edges and toprevent their lifting, as accumulations are encountered during theadvance, and for breaking up the accretions on the board a series ofpicks or gouges '18 is secured to the trays.

In operation the drum 13 is revolved and the trays hauled from theopposite end of the board 3 which is scraped clean of deposits by thefront edges of the scoops or trays. The scoops or trays are drawnforward until they pass through the window 14 when they tilt about thecarriage and dump their loads into a suitable receptacle outside of thebuilding. By reversing the rotation of the drum 13 the cable will windin the opposite direction and haul the carriage with its trays back.This whole operation requires but a few minutes and can be accomplishedwithout in any way alarming the fowl.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure byLetters Patent is- 1. In a poultry apparatus, the combination with afloor having guides along its sides, of a scraping and gathering devicetraveling between the guides, and means for reciprocating the deviceover the floor said means comprising a haul and return drum, a guidepulley, and a cable attached to the scraping device and rove through thepulley, and thence around the drum and to said device.

2. The combination in a poultry house, of a floored surface havingparallel side guides, a bar extending over said surface and con--tiguous thereto with its ends running in and held against verticalmovement by said guides, and a scoop hinged at its rear edge to the barand its front edge resting on the floored surface, and means forreciprocating the bar back and forth over the length of the flooredsurface.

8. In combination with a poultry house having a floor, a carriage, meansfor reciprocating the carriage over the floor, scraping trays hingedlyconnected to the carriage for gathering accretions from the floor andconveying same to and dumping them at one end of the floor, and springssecured to the carriage for yieldably pressing the scooping edges of thetrays against the floor.

4-. A mechanism for cleaning the dropping board of poultry houses,comprising a irriage, guides extending along the board at its sides, andWheels on the carriage engaged by the guides and limited in theirvertical movement thereby, a haul and return cable connected at its endsto the carriage, a pulley at one end of the board and a drum at theother end over which the cable is rove and for operating the same toreciprocate the carriage, and a scraper and gathering device pivotedupon the carriage, with means for automatically pressing the edge of thescraper down.

5. A poultry board cleaning device, co1nprising a carriage, means forreciprocating the carnage over the board, a scraping device hingedlyconnected to the carriage, and

means for yieldably pressing the scraping vice hingedly connected to thecarriage, 30

means for yieldably pressing the scraping edge of said device againstthe board, and gouges for breaking up accretions on the board.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set 35 my hand in the presence oftwo subscribing Witnesses.

JOSEPH A. CONBOIE.

Witnesses W. J. BUCHANAN, Wu. Monrnvronn.

Ecpies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner oi Patents, Washington, D. G.

